Conversation
by helga3
Summary: Missing scene. A conversation between Folken and Dryden, set somewhere during episodes 23-25.


**Disclaimer:** I am a starving student who owns absolutely nothing. Literally.

**A/N:** This story is the reslut of the fact that I found the idea of Dryden and Folken having an actual conversation amusing - really, if the ever got around to talking, how much of it do you think us poor normal people would understand? Anyway, I ended up putting them in the same room to see what they would do in the situation. This is the result.

I'm also firmly of the opinion that Merle and Dryden are very much on the same wavelenght, and one day, there might actually be some kind of sequel/companion to this starring those two.

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**Conversation**

**-**

All the noises of day had died down, and the silence of night now ruled the royal palace of Palas, Asturia. Footsteps that would have gone unnoticed in the daytime were echoing, magnified in importance, as Folken Lacour de Fanel was walking down an otherwise empty hallway.

He paused to look out one of the windows, down on the rooftops of the houses of Palas. The Mystic Moon was hanging in the sky, as strange and beautiful as ever. For a second, Folken thought he could see the face of the girl Kanzaki Hitomi reflected on it, smiling at him and telling him that she trusted him.

He sighed and turned away from the window, continuing his walk.

He needed too clear his head a bit, there were far too many thoughts in there at the moment. Not that there always weren't, they just usually weren't this... _jumbled_. He needed time to sort through them a bit.

Folken had never been in this particular hallway before; despite having visited the castle on a few occasions earlier, and having stayed there for some time now, he had not had time to do any exploring before now. There had always been more pressing things to deal with. If his calculations were correct, though, he'd soon be in more familiar surroundings again.

Folken turned right at the end of the hallway, and went up the stairs that waited for him there. And indeed he had been right, he silently commented, this was an area of the castle that he knew. Not that he'd expected anything less, really. In logical matters that were based on tangible facts, Folken was very rarely wrong.

The first door on the left led to the library, and that was where Folken was heading. But as he approached, he realised that the door was slightly ajar, and that there was a light on in the room. He paused and hesitated a moment before heading in - he did not really want to see anyone at the moment. He did not wonder for long, though, and pushed the door open and headed in.

The light was coming from some candles on a table in the middle of the room. There was a huge pile of books on the table, and there, at the long side of the table, facing the door but his head buried in a book, was the temporary king of Asturia.

Dryden Fassa looked up as Folken entered, nodded at him, and gestured for him to sit down.

Folken walked over to the table and sat down at the shorter side of the table, reaching for one of the books in the pile next to the other man. He opened it without really noticing what it was about, and absentmindedly sat staring at the first page without actually reading it for a while.

"So, Master Strategos… Why are you still awake on this fine night?"

Folken looked up from the book to see Dryden peering at him over his glasses, looking curious, and perhaps slightly amused.

He shrugged. "I've never really needed much sleep."

"Not many people are sleeping that well at the moment, I believe. Your presence has really made the people aware of the danger they're in, I think. No offence, of course. You're just... a fitting symbol of what's to come, I suppose."

Folken sighed. "I suppose so."

They were quiet for a moment again, both returning to their books again, though Folken was still not actually reading his.

"What about you, King Dryden?" He lifted his head from the book he was reading, not really sure why he was asking. "Why are you awake at this time of night?"

A shadow passed over Dryden's face for a few seconds, and then he shrugged and grinned. "I wasn't getting any sleep anyway, so I decided to come look through these books to see if I could find anything that could possibly help our present situation." He pointed to the books in front of him. "Some of these are the journals of previous kings."

He raised an eyebrow at Folken, looking a bit amused now. "And please don't call me _King Dryden_. Just Dryden is fine. The king-part makes me feel like I should run off to get a crown." He paused. "Not that I wouldn't look good in one, of course," he then added merrily.

Folken raised an eyebrow as well. "If you leave out the 'Master Strategos'."

_"Touché."_

"So, have the books told you anything?"

"Yes, well, so far, I've learned that wars suck and are never of any use to anyone. Then again, I knew that already."

"I think we all knew that already. But you do realise that Zaibach won't be kept away by economic sanctions alone?"

"Of course I realise that. It is a start, though. Someone should have ordered those ages ago. Then again, it's always easy to say things like that in retrospect, I suppose. Besides, there really isn't much else we can do at the moment. Your brother wanted us to attack them before they attack us, a pre-emptive strike of sorts, but I don't see the point. What does it really matter who attacks first? Hitomi's right, I think, Van is becoming a bit too fond of war."

"My brother gets easily confused, I think. But I do also know that in the end, he'll do what is right. He's like that."

"Yes. Yes he is."

There was another pause. Folken got up and walked over to one of the windows, once again staring up at the sky.

"I talked to Kanzaki Hitomi earlier. She said she trusted me." He turned back from the window to look at Dryden. Or rather, Dryden's back. The windows were on the opposite side of the room from the door which Dryden was facing. "You don't really trust me, do you?"

Dryden turned as well at that comment, not getting up from his seat but eyeing Folken thoughtfully from where he was sitting.

"No. No I don't, really. I may be more laid back than most people around here, but I'm not naive. Besides, I'm still a merchant as well, and as such I have to be pretty cynical, you know."

"Then why am I here?"

Dryden threw him a lopsided grin and shrugged. "Well, if you really have some awful, malicious intents hidden up your sleeve, you could achieve them just as well from somewhere else. Besides, there is a 50 chance you don't have any."

Folken almost smiled. "I suppose so. It makes most people very awkward around me. They don't like it when things aren't black and white, I guess."

Dryden snorted. "I don't really see what difference it would make if I treated you any differently. Humans, we're all. Well, almost all." He lazily waves his hand.

Folken turned back towards the window. The Mystic Moon was still visible from where he was standing, drawing his eyes to it with its eerie blue light.

"I'm going to die, you know."

He didn't know what made him say that, he wanted neither sympathy nor false reassurances that he was wrong, that he was not going to die. Well, perhaps, that was why he'd mentioned it - Dryden was not the kind of person who would try giving him anything like that. While they were vastly different people in most aspects, they did have one thing in common – the ability to look at things objectively and from a more scientific point of view when necessary.

"Well… That sucks. What makes you say that?"

"I'm Draconian. I know."

"Really?" Dryden's tone was interested. Folken tore his eyes away from the Mystic Moon and once again turned away from the window, walking back to sit down at the table again.

"Now I hope this doesn't sound too callous," Dryden continued, "but how, exactly? I don't think I've come across any information on that before." He scanned the lines of books on the shelves. "I'd have to check my books to be sure, though, there might be something I've missed. Shame my own collection isn't here."

"It's the wings. They turned black."

"Oh, I see. How interesting." Dryden frowned. "It must be rather awful knowing something like that. I wouldn't want to know when I'm going to die."

Folken shrugged. "I died a long time already to a lot of people. This time shouldn't be too different."

Dryden smiled a bit sadly. "I really am sorry. Now don't think I'm comparing the situations in any way, because I really am not, but if it makes you feel any better, I'm going to go away too."

"I see. Why is that?"

"You know, just before I met Millerna, I freed this mermaid. I had hear about her being for sale, and thought it sounded awful. So I decided to buy her and set her free. No one should have to be bought or sold or kept in a cage – or, in this case, a tank. Her name was Sylphy.

"So I'm doing the same thing for Millerna, I guess. She doesn't love me. And the fact that I do love her shouldn't make me keep her from being free. I don't want to be a hypocrite. Besides, if I become a better person, maybe one day she might love me, too."

"So you're going away to become a better person?"

"That's the plan. I really am at a loss as to how I'm going to manage that, though. Seriously, could you think of any ways I could possibly become any more fantastic than I already am?"

Folken stared.

Dryden rolled his eyes. "It's a joke. Why is it everyone always takes everything so seriously around here? But I suppose I'll have to forgive you this time, what with you dying and everything."

He smiled a bit sadly, looking thoughtful for a while, but then a grin spread across his face.

"Before I leave, I would kind of like to whack Allen Schezar across the face with this," he added cheerfully, pointing to the crutch he'd been walking with since the rather violent confrontation with Folken's catgirl protegés at his wedding.

This time, Folken smiled as well. And then laughed. He was surprised at it himself, hardly being able to remember the last time he would have laughed. He laughed for a long time, reacquainting himself with the sound.

"Dryden?" He asked when he'd calmed down, "When I'm gone, would you look after Van when you have some time to spare? I love my brother, and I trust him, but he's not always the most… emotionally stable. It runs in the family, I suppose," he added with a small self-conscious smile.

"Hey, that was almost a joke! Maybe you're not all that hopeless after all." Dryden took off his glasses and leaned back in his chair. "I suppose I can try looking after your brother. I think he'll do fine anyway, though."

"Yes, probably."

Dryden put his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. "Now that we have all that out of the way… Do you mind if I ask you something about Zaibach I've been wondering for a while now?"

"Go ahead."

"What are the libraries like over there?"

Folken smiled again.

Not long after that, as he was heading back to his room, Folken stopped at a window again, for the third time that night. His head did not feel quite as crammed this time, though.

And once more, he thought he could see Kanzaki Hitomi's face reflected on the blue moon in the sky, smiling at him.

Back at the library, Dryden was still sitting at the same table when someone appeared from behind one of the bookshelves. Only a head first, pink hair, pointy cat-ears. Then the rest of her body. Merle.

The catgirl sauntered over to where Dryden was sitting. She leaned over, placing her elbows on the table and resting her chin in her hands. She stared at him intently for a while.

"So… What will you give me if I sneak into Allen's room and cut off his hair while he's asleep?"

Dryden grinned.


End file.
